CHEST OF DRAWERS
This piece appears to be especially related to sideboard S-10901. These, along with tables S-11246 and D-33141, are possibly by the hand of John P. Martin, an identified cabinetmaker and close neighbor of George Brem, who signed one of the so-called “half-penny” inlay chests of drawers (D-33107).
GROUP: The half-penny inlay on this chest of drawers relate it to a group of similarly inlaid pieces by George Brem (Brim). Chest of drawers D-33107 has the signature “Geo. Brem” on the back of a drawer, along with the Masonic symbol of a compass and square. The assumption is that George Brem was the maker of the that chest of drawers, and thus the maker of at least some of the Upcountry South Carolina half-penny group. However, this chest of drawers and three other pieces (D-33141, S-11246, and S-10901) with half-penny inlay are more finely constructed than the signed George Brem piece. The probable narrative related to this larger group is as follows:
The Brem family of woodworkers had its origins in Rowan County, North Carolina, in the eighteenth century. CONRAD BREM was an artisan working there as early as 1779 when he took a young lad named Henry Furr as an apprentice “to learn the Trade of a Turner and Spinning Wheel Maker.” Conrad was listed in the 1790, 1800, and 1810 Rowan County Census records.
Conrad’s son JACOB BREM (1778-1842), appears to have followed in his father’s footsteps, and in 1803 he “t[ook] Josef Brown, orphan of Jno. Brown, formerly bound to George Moor, dec., as apprentice to the chairmaker’s trade.” Although Jacob was listed in the 1800 Rowan County census, by 1810 he had apparently moved to Lincoln County and was listed in the census there. According to William Sherrill in his Annals of Lincoln County, North Carolina, Jacob Brem married Eve Hoover, May 9, 1812. He was a skilled worker in wood and it is said that he constructed the beautiful spiral stairway in the old Hoke residence in Lincolnton, now known as Inverness Inn [burned in the 1970s].“ In 1816 Jacob took “James Dawson as an apprentice to the chairmaker’s and painter’s trades.” In the 1820 census, Jacob was again listed as living in Lincoln County, now with a household of 11 individuals, 5 of whom were “engaged in manufactures.” In May of 1828, Jacob Brem advertised in the Western Carolinian newspaper, “On the 29th of April last my son, George Brem, who is under age of 21, left this place of abode. I therefore intend prosecuting to the utmost rigor of the law, against any person or persons who may harbor or trade with said George.” Jacob remained in Lincoln County and appeared in the 1830 census for that county. He must have resolved issues with his son, because by 1840 Jacob had left Lincoln County and was listed in the census for Spartanburg County, SC, the county where his son George was then living. In 1842 Jacob Brem died and was buried in Magnolia Cemetery in Spartanburg. One extant Windsor chair with a label that reads, “WINDSOR AND / FANCY CHAIRS / MADE AND SOLD BY / JACOB BREM LINCOLNTON, (NORTH CAROLINA), KRIDER & BINGHAM PRINTERS . . .SALISBURY” survives, and is recorded in the MESDA Object Database (S-77163).
Jacob Brem’s discontent with his son GEORGE BREM (1809-ca. 1885), the signer of chest of drawers D-33107, was probably the result of George’s early marriage to Kitty G. Wallace on April 29, 1828, the date mentioned in the Western Carolinian as the date George “left this place of abode.” Apparently George and Kitty found their way to Spartanburg County, SC, because George and his family are listed in the 1830 census for that county. As noted above, by 1840 both George Brem and his father Jacob were living in Spartanburg County, SC, so one might assume they patched up their relationship. They were, however, not living very close to one another within the county. By 1850 the Spartanburg County census indicated George and Kitty had seven children, ranging in ages from 2 to 21; George and his oldest son John were listed as “mechanics,” while his 17-year-old son Thomas was listed as a “painter,” presumably because the family was still in the chair-making/furniture business. The chest of drawers with George’s name on it was probably made in Spartanburg County, SC, between 1830 and 1850. By 1854 the family had moved west, and in 1857 George’s oldest son, John W. Brem, advertised in the Clarkesville, Red River County, Texas, newspaper, the Standard, as follows: “Repairing Carriages, Making bureaus, bedsteads, Tables, Chairs, etc.,” adding that he was “now prepared to manufacture . . . spike thrashers & side thrashers. The latter is a new invention, highly commended by competent judges.” In 1860 George, Kitty, and the family were still listed in the Red River County, Texas, census, where George, along with his three oldest boys, were all listed as “mechanics.” Also part of the household were four young men in their early twenties who were identified as “laborers.” Although George cannot be located in the 1870 Texas census, he is identified in the 1880 Sulfur Springs, Hopkins County, Texas, census as a 70-year-old “Painter,” suggesting he was still working as a “mechanic” of some sort. His death date is unclear, but he died after 1880 and before 1890; he does not appear in any census after 1880.
When George Brem practiced his trade in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, he was working in close proximity to a slightly older, self-identified “cabinetmaker,” a man named J[ohn] P[olly] Martin (1805-1891). John P. Martin is listed in the 1840 Spartanburg County census with his small family, including presumably his wife, Elizabeth Bomar (1799-1864), and four small children. At this date, George Brem and John P. Martin were not living close to one another. However, by the 1850 Spartanburg County census, the two households are side-by-side. Furthermore, as noted earlier, George Brem (age 40) is identified as a “mechanic,” while his next door neighbor, the older J. P. Martin (age 45) is identified as a “cabinetmaker.” Martin was also identified as a cabinetmaker in the 1860 and 1880 Spartanburg County Census records. Martin died in 1891 and was buried in the Bomar Family Graveyard in Fairforest, SC. Exactly how George Brem and John Polly Martin interacted while living so close to one another can only be surmised, but one family history suggests that they worked together in the same shop. In Dr. J. B. O. Landrum’s 1900 history, Spartanburg County, the author states: “As he [Thomas B. Martin and son of J. P. Martin] grew up to manhood, he learned the cabinet trade under his father and George Brem.” Perhaps John Polly, the avowed cabinetmaker, might have been making the more finely made half-penny group, which includes sideboard S-10901. Further research may clarify who taught the men and illuminate the relationship between them. By 1857 the George Brem family had relocated to Texas.
The Brem family had a long tradition of making chairs and other turned objects, as well as creating case furniture; it was a tradition that geographically spanned parts of Piedmont North Carolina, Upcountry South Carolina, and even Texas. George Brem was unquestionably involved in making some pieces in the half-penny group, but other makers were probably involved in its production as well, most particularly the avowed cabinetmaker John Polly Martin.
